Cheltenham 2- 0 Crewe Alex: Match Report
I don't get to many games these days, so I thought I'd do a match report for the benefit of those who were spared a depressing trip to Gloucestershire today.
We started the match in a 442 formation: Dagnall and Lowe up top, with Kimoya left, Cooper right and Bingham and Hollands in the centre. Neither side had shown much attacking promise when Cheltenham took the lead after a quarter of an hour from a training ground corner routine. The Robins vacated the box (except for Waters, who remained to obstruct Ben), but the deep corner that looked likely never came. The corner came in drilled low towards the penalty spot, and a well-timed run and finish put the Robins one up. I'd need to see a replay to see if any blame could be attached to anyone, although I felt at the time that someone should have moved Waters away from Ben to free him up before the corner was taken.
5 minutes later, we went two down. Hollands lost possession on the edge of his own area, leaving Dayton ample time to slot the ball home. The game was pretty much over with only a quarter of it played. Things didn't look up for the Alex until 35 minutes in, when we switched to 433 (Cooper making way for Jones in what I assume was a tactical switch) and at last started to look vaguely like a professional football team. That said, I don't recall a single chance created by us in the first half.
The second half was better; it had to be, really. I still don't think we ever really looked like scoring, though. The ball was often too slow from back to front. If we want to play the ball on the deck, a midfield playmaker would be useful. We were missing one today. There's no aerial presence up front, meaning that hurried clearances and long balls were rarely converted into attacking possession. When we did get into good areas in the final third, end product was lacking. Our most promising spell came from simple, old-fashioned overload tactics as Cheltenham sat back: get men up the pitch, get the ball in the box, win corners and create pressure.
Overall, a poor display. Cheltenham weren't up to much, but they were fitter and stronger (where have we heard this before?) and well organised. They were gifted a comfortable lead at home and then defended with relative composure. The Alex didn't have the quality (or tactics?) to break them down. My Crewe match ratings:
Garratt: 6 - Couldn't be blamed for either goal. Made one great reaction save when a Cheltenham forward got in behind a static defence. The flag was up, but neither attacker or goalkeeper would have known.
Turton: 6 - Had a reasonable game. Didn't look out of his depth as he often did against League One players.
Guthrie: 6 - I don't remember much about his display, so I'll assume it was decent enough!
Davis: 5 - Out-muscled in dangerous areas a couple of times. Place must be under threat in a position we have some depth in.
Zooms: 6 - Only the second time I've seen him play. Tries to be dynamic and made a couple of good runs; prone to getting the simple things wrong sometimes, though.
Bingham: 5 - Showed the odd nice touch, but he and Hollands were swamped in the 2-man midfield we started with. The closest we had to a playmaker as the game went on and he got a bit more space, I'm not sure he's up to it though.
Hollands: 3 - A performance to forget on his first League start for the club. Gave away a goal, got booked, contributed very little.
Kiwomya: 5 - Has the potential to be an exciting player. Didn't come off for him today, though. No real impact on the match.
Cooper: 5 - Barely involved before being hooked in a presumably tactical switch. Did not seemed pleased at being withdrawn so early!
Dagnall: 5 - Probably our worst player on the day after Hollands. Largely a peripheral figure, he pulled his 4 up to a 5 with some improved link-up play in the last 20 minutes as we pushed on. To be fair to him, he wasn't getting much decent service to work with.
Lowe: 5 - Some decent movement into channels and occasionally found a little space dropping deeper into the "Number 10" area, but largely forced to try and make his own luck without success.
Jones: 5 - Solid enough without really impressing.
Ainley: 5 - Looked lively, but was unable to influence events from off the bench.
Steve Davis: 4 - Started the wrong shape, and the players weren't executing a 442 formation properly in my opinion. You get the ball to the wingers ASAP, who run with it; if that's not on, you lump it up to the targetman striker (that we don't have). At least this was realised, but only by the time the game was lost.
Final thoughts: I'm glad that I work on Saturdays and won't be able to make many more games this season! Cheltenham just about value for the win, but I'll be very surprised if either of these teams finish in the top half of the table. This is the worst Crewe team I've seen in 25 years of supporting the club. A below average 4th tier side with no emerging talent that looks capable of playing at a higher level (maybe Ben?) I generally classify myself as one of the more patient, optimistic people on this board; but if I had to watch this every week then I'm not sure I'd stay that way for too long.
